Mystery Aircraft Quiz No. 32

[Pilawt]

January 2006 marks the 46th anniversary of the first flight of the Piper Cherokee. It's almost hard to imagine general aviation without all those PA-28's and PA-32's running around. So let's try some Cherokee-related questions.

I count somewhere around 17 or 18 different PA-28 models that have been on the market. What was the first Cherokee model to be certified and go into production?

-- Pilawt

 

[Steve]

This might be a trick question...so I'm going to defer to the low-wingers.

 

[Pilawt]

This might be a trick question...so I'm going to defer to the low-wingers.

Trick question? Moi?!

No trick, really. Of all the cut-and-paste PA-28 models, one of them had to be first. To narrow it down, one of these was the first of the bunch to be FAA certified, and was the only one certified for the first few months of production:

PA-28-140
PA-28-150
PA-28-160
PA-28-180
PA-28-235
​

-- Pilawt

 

[Shipoke]

i'lltake a gues and say PA28-150 Dave G.

 

[Pilawt]

i'lltake a gues and say PA28-150 Dave G.

Well, close.

The first Cherokee to fly, an experimental prototype (N9315R), was a PA-28-150. But the production prototype (N2800W) was a PA-28-160, and it was this version that was first certified, on Oct. 31, 1960. Piper's initial publicity for the Cherokee offered both the -150 and -160 versions, but the -150 was not certified until some nine months later.

The Cherokee 160 offered only slight advantage over the -150: cruise speed 2 mph higher, about 50 fpm greater rate of climb, and 45 pounds more useful load. 1961 list price of the -160 was only $200 more ($9,995 vs. $9,795), but it required the costlier 91/96 or 100/130 octane grades. The 150 was happy with the then-plentiful and cheaper 80/87 octane fuel.

Both the -150 and -160 were dropped from the line in 1968, though the PA-28-140 continued for another decade, using the same engine and nearly identical airframe as the original -150. In the mid-1970s, 80 octane fuel became scarce, shifting the economic balance back in favor of the 160-hp engine, which ran well on the new 100LL fuel. It replaced the 150-hp engine in the Cherokee Warrior in 1977.

-- Pilawt